Christian Louboutin Lady Peep nail polish review

Red – the colour of danger, love, anger, fire, blood, lust and, in Chinese culture, luck. You can see red, paint the town red, raise a red flag, catch someone red-handed, celebrate a red letter day and discover a red herring… and that’s before we’ve even got onto scarlet women, strawberry fields, crimson tides and ruby slippers. Basically, that’s a lot of connotations for a simple three-letter word!

So it’s no surprise that my second pick from the Christian Louboutin Red Nail Extensions Collection manages to be quite so different from the first. Lady Peep is dark and brooding where Edgypopi was bright and fresh; it’s the arched eyebrow of maturity to the fist pump of youth, the sophistication to Edgypopi’s sass. This is a long-winded way of saying it’s a dark red.

In fact, Lady Peep is significantly darker on the nails than it is in the bottle (shown above, centre). It’s a deep blood red; a claret or burgundy wine tinged with regret; a sophisticated femme fatale with a smouldering hint of danger. It’s actually very similar to Essie’s Rock Star Skinny but without the shimmer of silver – and a lot more elegant and grown-up for it.

Formula-wise, I found it very thin – although it is opaque in one coat, it looks a lot better with two. That being said, it dries pretty quickly and wore the best of all the Red Nail Extensions lacquers, lasting at least five days chip-free.

Lady Peep is probably more of an autumn or winter colour, making it feel a tad incongruous in the blazing sunshine of summer. But it is one of those effortlessly flattering, versatile shades that seems to go with everything whilst still being infinitely more interesting and edgy than a default nude or run-of-the-mill red. I actually think it would make a great pedicure colour too – can you imagine Lady Peep peeping out of a pair of strappy slingbacks? Gorgeous!

I have to admit, I wish it were a bit more scarlet red than russet brown (at least on my skin anyway) like the bottle suggests, but I liked it all the same. Lady Peep, I’ve got my eye on you… maybe there’s a chance you’ll make a lady out of me yet!